Picture of mirror frames



April 21, 1970 'sfH. WIDIGS PICTURE OF MIRROR FRAMES Filed Dec. 28, 196'? Fig.1

United States Patent 3,507,066 PICTURE OF MIRROR FRAMES Sven Holger Widigs, Enbacka, Gustafs, Sweden Filed Dec. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 694,298 Claims priority, applicatit/ni7sweden, Jan. 3, 1967,

Int. Cl. G09f 1/12 U.S. Cl. 40-152 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A composite frame for a picture or mirror has rectangular inner and outer framework moldings between which a flattened sheet or board is disposed. The corner joints are reinforced by a triangular block, which may be slotted for resiliency and thereby prevent deformation of the framing members by temperature or humidity changes.

Picture frames are almost exclusively made of solid wood, which makes them expensive to produce and, since a certain amount of wood is discarded, the consumption of wood is high. Moreover, the storage of frames is associated with difficulties caused by variations in the humidity of the air. When the air is dry the sections of the frames tend to come apart, and become disfigured by gaps appearing at the mortise joints, while when the air is moist similar gaps will appear along at rear edge of the frame.

These disadvantages can be eliminated completely if the frame is made of two narrow frame mouldings joined by means of an intermediate sheet of fibreboard, plywood or the like. 'Frames of this type do not contain as much wood as the majority of conventional frames, and are very economical to produce. Among other things each section of the frame can be surface treated before being joined together to form a unit, thus enabling simple and worksaving variations in the appearance of the frame to be made. The intermediate sheet may, inter alia, be made of veneered material, whereby more costly qualities of wood can be used. This has hardly been possible until now because of the expense incurred. Frames made according to the invention can be stored without any risk of damage due to moisture.

The frames according to the invention comprise an inner frame moulding and an outer frame moulding as well as an intermediate sheet of fibreboard, plywood or the like, a box-like groove or channel being defined at the back of the frame between said inner frame moulding and said outer frame moulding. The sheet forms the bottom of the channel. The frame according to the characterizing feature of the invention comprises a block secured in the groove at each corner of the frame, for example by means of an adhesive, said corner block resting against both the walls of the frame and the bottom of the channel. Hence, the parts defining the groove or channel can be assembled quite easily. Furthermore, if in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention the corner block is provided with slots, resulting in a certain flexibility of said corner block, the mortise joints will not be subjected to shrinkage or swelling under the influence of different temperatures or humidity of the air. Consequently, the frame always will retain a pleasant appearance.

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The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 shows a cross section through part of a frame according to the present invention,

FIGURE 2 shows a rear perspective view of a corner of a frame provided with a corner block, according to the invention, and

FIGURE 3 shows a similar perspective view of a frame corner with a corner block provided with slots sawn therein, part of the corner block being cut away.

The frame, which has a rectangular shape, is made of an inner wooden frame moulding 1, an outer wooden frame moulding 2 and an intermediate sheet 3 of fibreboard, plywood or similar material. The intermediate sheet 3 is fitted in grooves in the framework mouldings 1, 2 to define, together with said mouldings, a channel at the rear of the frame, between its inner and outer mouldings. The walls of the channel are joined at each frame corner by means of a corner block 4, which abuts the adjacent surfaces of the mouldings at the frame and'the bottom of the channel, said bottom being defined by sheet 3.

Seen in a plane parallel to the plane of the picture frame, the corner'block 4 has the shape of an isoceles, right angled triangle, the sides of equal length abutting the inner surfaces of the outer moulding 2 of the frame while the base of the triangle is provided with a V- shaped recess 5, corresponding to the corner 8 at the inner moulding 1 of the frame. The corners of the corner block 4 presenting the equal angles may be cut away.

In a preferred embodiment (FIGURE 3) the corner block is provided with one or more slots 6, resulting in the block becoming flexible or resilient to some ex tent. Preferably, the slots 6 are cut parallel to the base of the corner block presenting the recess 5.

The corner block is designed so that the point 7 of the corner block will be forced towards the inner surface of the outer frame moulding 2 and towards the angle apex 8 of the inner frame moulding 1.

What Iclaim is:

1. In a rectangular frame for a picture, a mirror or the like, an arrangement of frame elements which protects corner joints from shrinkage and ,swelling, comprising an inner rectangular framework molding, an outer rectangular framework molding having its sides substantially parallel to and disposed outwardly of opposed sides of the inner molding, parallel grooves in said inner and outer molding sides, flattened, elongated sheetlike members joining said inner and outer moldings, longitudinal edges of said sheet-like members being fitted into said parallel grooves, said inner and outer moldings and said sheet-like members defining a box-like channel, the molding sides forming walls of said channel and the sheet-like members forming the bottom of the channel, and a relatively resilient corner block fitted in said channel at each corner of the frame, and abutting against the walls and bottom of the channel, the resiliency of said blocks compensating for expansion and contraction of the other frame elements.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein each corner block in plan view parallel to the plane of the picture frame is generally in the shape of an isosceles, rightangled triangle, the sides of equal length of the block abutting inner surfaces of the inner and outer frame moldings, the base of the block having a recess corresponding to an internal angle of the inner molding, said blocks each having at least one slot cut therein for providing resiliency.

3. The arrangement according to claim 2 wherein the slots extend parallel to the bases of the blocks in which they are cut.

4. The arrangement according to claim 2 wherein each block has a plurality of slots cut therein, said slots extending parallel to the bases of the blocks in which they 10 are cut.

References Cited .1

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,623,316 12/1952 Knox 40-152 2,805,506 9/1957 Thompson 40152 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner W. J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 287--2092 

